Nier: Automata
by José "Ze1598" Costa / Playtime: ~55 hours Introduction Nier: Automata is a sequel to the 2010 video game Nier, a spin-off of the Drakengard series. Set in the midst of a war between machines, created by the aliens, and the remnants of humanity, the story follows the battles of a combat android 2B, her companion 9S, and a renegade android A2. While the game may seem quite weird at first, it's very much worth sticking with it through it's myriad of endings, plot twists and the emotional rollercoaster the story tells. Gameplay Automata isn't too hard to learn. Depending on wether you're playing with 2B or A2 and 9S is how things can get different: 2B and A2 only use combinations of melee weapons (combinations between swords, spears and combat bracers) while 9S only uses one weapon at a time, plus he can hack the enemies (through a small arcade-y style shoot 'em up game; which can kill '1-shot' the weaker enemies and deal massive ammounts of damage to the stronger ones. Beyond the androids, the player can also use a pod simultaneously, which can deal continuous small ammounts of damage to the enemies, serving as a source of support in combat. Below you can watch some footage of me playing through a part of the Amusement Park area in the first video and in the second video you can watch the boss battle of that area: Difficulty Nier: Automata isn't too hard of a game unless you're playing in the hardest difficulty setting: Very Hard. In this mode no matter which kind of attack you receive you will always die. However, Easy, Normal and Hard are much more forgiving to the player (Easy mode actually allows the player to equip plug-in chips which dodge incoming attacks and use items automatically), so most of time it's possible to simply enjoy the game and the story it tells. Visual & Sound design Visually this game at first can look somewhat "boring" due to the abundancy of greens and greys from the main area (City Ruins). However, when progressing through the game and exploring its different areas this problem disappears. Animation and modelling-wise the game looks quite impressing. The models combined with its animations keep combat fluid and are able to show the emotions the voice actors convey in each situation. For the sound, it is simply stunning. No matter if you're exploring an area, deep in combat or watching a cutscene you can be sure the soundtrack will match it for sure. On that note too, props to Platinum Games for being able to create such great sounds in situations like where you're literally smashing metal against metal and it still sounds good instead of making your ears bleed. For the voice acting, it's also quite superb. As said above, at all times the voice actors are able to convey perfectly what's going on and what the characters are feeling. Achievements & Trophies Due to the fact that it is possible to buy every single trophy in the game (with in-game currency) after completing the second half of the story for the first time it's not worth mentioning any trophy. Verdict It's not often I can get so immersed in a game. While the characters and story were both of very high-quality, if the sound and visuals couldn't keep up with it I would have never been able to like and enjoy this game as much as I did and do. Please do yourself a favor and play this game (and if possible avoid spoilers as much as you can). Final score: 20/20 Category:Reviews